EDOUARD CHATEAU 1880-1975

M. Chateau from the original Post Card Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

M. Chateau piloting a Voisin Biplane from the original Post Card Collection of Jean-Pierre Lauwers

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE via email from Stéphane Delrieu, 3-5-06 Hi, My grand uncle Edouard Chateau was born 12 April 1880 and died 23 August 1975. Sorry, but I don't speak English very well. I am preparing a web site in French, the Edouard Chateau story. Stéphane Delrieu Editor's Note: Dear Stéphane.      No need to apologize for not speaking English very well. I don't speak French at all and am severely hindered in my research by that fact. I must depend on people like you who take the initiative and the time to contact me in whatever language is possible. Luckily, we do have the availablity of machine-translation programs which make it possible for us to understand each other.      I congratulate you for building a website for your grand uncle and hope that you will let us know when it is available on the net.

 

9-ROBERT ESNAULT PELTERIE, France      October 22, 1907---Robert Esnault Pelterie made his first flight, one of 150m., at Buc. Other flights were as follows;      October 26---Several of 100m.      October 27---Described arcs and damaged machine; 100m.      November 16---Short flight.      The Pelterie I was a tractor monoplane, closed fuselage, warping wings, flexible rudder and elevator aft. R.E.P., 30 h.p. air-cooled, seven-cylinder engine.      June 8, 1908---Trials began with Pelterie II, flying 300m., 500m., and 1,200m. at 30m. height, record height and distance for monoplanes.      The machine was then altered into the II-bis and in November 1908 flights were continued. On November 21, 1908, aat Buc, the machine made 316m. and other flights of 250-300m. flown by M. Chateau, who won the third and last A.C.F. prize for 200m. The Pelterie machine was flown in the Rheims meet of 1909, but was not prominent thereafter. It was the first machine to have a welded steel fuselage and an oleopneumatic landing gear.      Subsequently, Pelterie quit flying and devoted himself to the manufacture of aircraft engines and planes. He began his experimenting in 1906, making towed flights.      September 19---He flew 500m.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Edouard Chateau" +aviation , using the Google search engine, (3-6-06), you will find about ten links.Among the most interesting is the following.

Le Circuit de l'Est by Commune de Amiens/Nancy The Circuit of the East by Commune of Amiens/Nancy      Project Gutenberg has made this e-book version of the brochure available online in its entirety. It is written in French and a machine-translated version is available. I find it offers a wealth of information about the race and the participants, including Edouard Chateau, although I find it difficult to extract the facts from the translated text. With respect to Edouard Chateau's participation, I found the following brief biography: "Edouard CHATEAU Ingénieur et praticien, fut professeur de l'Ecole Voisin, dont il monta longtemps les appareils. Pilote ici un monoplan Tellier avec lequel il fit déjà de très beaux vols. Illustration: AMIENS 1910" Edouard CHATEAU Engineer and expert, was a Close professor of the School, of which it mounted the apparatuses a long time. Pilot here a Tellier monoplane with which it made already very beautiful flights. Illustration: AMIENS 1910      I have extracted an especially interesting portion of the brochure which lists the aviators and the aeroplanes which took part in the race. Edouard Chateau is number 18 on the list. You can access it by clicking on: Le Circuit de l'Est

 

Edouard Chateau died 23 August 1975. from Stéphane Delrieu, 3-6-06

 

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

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